System and apparatus for hemming



R. E. ANNIS May 23, 1944.

SYSTEM AND APPAfiATUS FOR HEMMING SHEETS OF FIBROUS MATERIAL Filed Jan.2'7, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 lnvenTor. Ross E.Ann byifiws is if R; E.ANNIS SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR HEMMING SHEETS OF FIBROUS MATERIAL May23, 1944.

Filed Jan. 27, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inv enTor. Ross E. Annis Any.

y ,1 R. E. ANNIS 2,349,233

SYSTEM AND. APPARATUS FOR HEMMING SHEETS OF FI BROUS MATERIAL Filed Jan.27, 1941 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 invenTo r. Ross E. Annis WW Wif M ATTys.

Patented May 23, 1944 2,349,233 SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR HEMTMING SHEETSOF FIBROUS MATERIAL.

Ross E.. Annis, North Sudbury, Mass, assignor to Underwood MachineryCompany, a corporation of Massachusetts Application January 27, 1941,Serial No. 376,119

9 Claims.

This invention relates to systems for hemming and finishing sheets forrapid commercial production.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a system forproducing a wide hem on one end ofthe sheet and a narrow hem on theother end of the sheet, closing the ends of the hems in a minimum time,with a minimum amount of labor, and a minimum manipulation of the sheetswhich would otherwise require repressing of the sheets before finallyfolding them for packaging and shipment.

In usual methods of finishing sheets sections of a suitable calenderedweb of cloth are torn transversely at predetermined intervalscorresponding to the desired length of the sheets, then folded tosuitable sizes for packaging. A pile of the folded sheets is then takento an operator having a wide hem stitching machine, the sheets unfoldedand the Wide hem formed upon one end of the sheet. The sheets are thenrefolded by the operator and piled. Such piles are then transferred toanotheroperator having a narrow hem stitching machine who unfolds thesheets, forms the narrow hem upon the opposite end of the sheet, andrepiles the hemmed sheets. The hemmed sheets thus piled are then takento a third operator having a machine for closing the ends of the hem.The machine for thus closing the ends of the hem is sometimes a zigzagstitching machine, or maybe a special end-hemming machine. The thirdoperator thereupon unfolds the sheets, closes all the hems, and refoldsthe sheets. Theunfolding and refolding of the sheets and themanipulationthereof during the hemming operations ruffiesor wrinkles thesheets to such an extent that the hemmed sheets require folding andpressing of the folded sheets before they are in condition for packagingin boxes for storage and shipment.

' It has been found in practice that the operator who closes the ends ofthe sheets is able to complete the closing of the hems. of all thesheets in substantially half the length of time required by therespective operators to produce the wide hems or the, narrow hems uponthe sheet, or in other words the operator who closes the ends of thehemscan close them substantially as rapidly as two wide hem. operators andtwo narrow hem operators can produce the respective hems upon the sheet.

The object of the present invention is to providexa system comprising aplurality of series of traveling carriers having arms upon each of whicha. sheetmay be. draped centrally either in extended position orpreferably when folded longitudinally midway of the width of the sheetwith the end portions of the sheet having the torn edges hanging down.in parallelism and thereby presented to the operators of the hemmingmachines in such manner that the respective Wide and narrow hems may beformed without undesirable wrinkling of the sheets and in which part ofthe loaded carriers may be moved to one of two stations having means forfolding and stitching a hem of predetermined width, then moved toanother station having means for stitching and folding a hem ofdifferent width and all of thecarriers bearing fully hemmed sheetsthereafter moved to a single station having means for closing the endsof the hems of all of the sheets, and thereupon moving the carriers to asingle doffing station at which the sheets may be removed fromthe-carrier.

A further feature of the invention consists in providing at the doffingstation suitable tables upon which the sheets may be unfolded forinspection, then refolded and placed upon a traveling endless carrierfrom which the folded sheets may be delivered to a packaging stationhaving means for pressing the folded sheets into final condition forpackaging.

A further'object of the invention is to provide suitable apparatus bywhich the system thus described may be produced.

These and other objects and features of the invention will more fullyappear from the following description of the system and a preferred typeof apparatus used in connection therewith.

vIn the drawings:

Fig. 1 illustrates diagrammatically two parallel continuous, systems forhemming sheets in the manner aforesaid located upon opposite sides of asingle conveyer for transporting piles of unfinished sheets totheloading station and for delivering the finished. and inspected sheetsfrom the dofilng station to a station for pressing and packaging thesheets;

Fig. '2 is a side elevation of a turntable supporting an uneven number.of rotatable sheetcarrying reels having radial arms over which a centralportion of a sheet or a sheet folded mid- Way of its length is draped insuch a manner that the portions having the torn edges hang downwardly inparallelism;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view, partially in vertical sectionillustrating a preferred construction by which the reels are mountedupon the turntable;

of the construction illus- Duplicate sheet-hemming systems embodying theinvention are illustrated in Fig. 1 as arranged in parallelism onopposite sides of a preferably endless conveyer l upon which piles ofunhemmed sheets are carried to loading stations and upon which thehemmed and folded sheets are delivered to a pressing and packagingstation 2. Inasmuch as the mechanisms of the respective systemsdesirably are identical a description of one will serve for both. Eachsystem comprises a series of three narrowly associated turntableslocated in alinement and each turntable is provided with an odd numberof sheet-carrying reels,'preferably seven in number, with operatingstations located adjacent to the circular path of each set of reels,with operating stations located adjacent to the respective reels whenthe turntable is arrested to permit the respective manipulations oroperations required to load the sheets upon the carriers to form andstitch the wide spectively, to close the ends of the hems and to doffthe hemmed sheets, inspect-them and place them upon the conveyer fordelivery;

Inasmuch as each of the turntables and the carriers, which are mountedupon them, may be of identical construction a description of a singleturntable and its carriers will be suflicient for all.

Any suitable turntable may be employed for.

supporting the reels. In the preferred constructionillustrated hereinthe turntable, which is in the form of 'a circular rotatableskeletonized frame structure, is t mounted upon a vertical column 3having a rigid base 4 which'is suitably secured'to the floor of the roomand also desirably i fixedly secured at its upper end to the ceiling ofthe room, or other suitable rigid overhead structure. a

The column 3 has rigidly mounted upon it at a suitable distance from thefloor a, collar having at its upperend a horizontal flange 5 upon whicha, roller bearing or other antifriction hearing- 1 is mounted forsupporting the rotatable turntable.

The turntable comprises a hub preferably in the form of a tubular sleeve8 which is concentricallymounted upon the upper portion of the column 3and is provided adjacent its upper and lower ends with radialantifriction bearings 9. The lower end of the hub has rigidly secured toit a disk I U which engages the antifriction bearing 1. The sleeve 8 hassecured to its lower end portion above the collar ID a circular plate ordisk H to which aseries of equally spaced radial arms l2 are welded, andthe outer ends of the radial arms are secured to a preferably circularangle bar I3 thereby forming a rigid spider-like construction.

Suitable tension rods l4 are adjustably connected at their lower ends tothe radial arms i2 and at their upper ends to a collar l5'whi-ch isrigidly secured to the top of the sleeve 8.

A series of preferably seven reels are suitably mounted in equallyspaced relation upon the the normal radial position;

and narrow hems rereel and is screw threaded at its upper end to receivea nut 2| which engages a ball or other peripheral portion of theturntable. In the particular construction illustrated in detail in Figs.3 and 4 each reel is suspended from a bracket l6 which is mounted uponthe circular angle bar ring l3. The bracket I6 is provided with avertical bore, preferably having therein a bushing H which fits upon arotatable shaft [8 for supporting the reel. The shaftl8 is provided atits lower endwith an enlarged flat head l9 adapted to engage the underface of the hub 20 of the antifriction bearing 22 interposed between itand the upperend of the bracket l6.

,Aflat'circular plate 23, which is integral with the hub, extendshorizontally outwardly therefrom and is provided near its periphery withpreferably several equally spaced radially bored downwardly extendingbosses 24 in which suitable supports for the sheets are mounted. In theconstruction illustrated in Fig. 1 the supports for the sheets are inthe form of radially extending cylindrical bars 25 the inner ends ofwhich extend into and are secured in the bosses 24. The bars 25 haverotatably mounted upon them cylindrical sleeves 26, preferably offibrous material, over which the sheets 21 may be draped, with theportions having the unhemmed edges hanging downwardly in parallelism.Suitable disks 28 presenting non-corrosive surfaces are mounted upon theinner and outer ends of. the bars 25 and serve to engage the selvageedges of the sheets and to prevent the sheets 'from displacementlongitudinally of the bars.

A modified form of reel construction is illus-' trated in Figs. 5 and 6in which the sheet-supporting arms are pivotally mounted upon therotatable plate adjacent its periphery and adapted to have a limitedswinging movement about their axes to permit more convenientmanipulation of the sheet by the operator when stitching the hems. Inthe ,construction illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 the circular plate 23 orother suitable arm-supporting member is provided with a pcripheralannular boss 28 which may-be integral with the disk 23 or a ring weldedor otherwise secured to the upper surface thereof. The boss 28 isprovided with a series of equally spaced re-entrant recesses 29 eachhaving a vertical wall 30 in a radial plane with respect to the axis ofrotation of thecircular plate 23 and another wall 3| which diverges fromthe wall 30 as illustrated. The circular plate 23 is provided with avertical bore 32 at the apex of the vertical walls SI and 32 andpreferably the plate is provided with downwardly extending bosses 33 inaxial alinement with the bores 32. The bores 32 extend verticallydownwardly through the plate 23 and the bosses 33 toprovide a longbearing for the cylindrical end 34 of the sheet-supporting arms 35. Thearms 35 are provided with preferably sleeves of fibrous material 26 anddisks 28 presenting non-corrosive surfaces to selvage edges of thesheet, as above described.

Any suitable number of supporting arms may be mounted upon the circularplate of the reel, as above described. As illustrated in Fig. 1 each ofthe seven reels is provided with sixteen radial sheet-supporting armsbut it is found in practice that as many as thirty-six arms may beemployed. A sheet-manipulating or operating station is located adjacentto the circumference of each reel when in operating position asgraphically illustrated in Fig. 1. In the system illustrated engage thein Fig; 1 adjacent turntables are arranged for rotation in reversedirections thereby enabling the reels of adjacent turntables to bepresented to a single loading station L and to a single dofilng stationD, so that the reels of two adjacent turntables can be simultaneouslyloaded and simultaneously defied.

It has been stated heretofore that a singlev operator of a machine forclosing the ends, of the hem can close the hems as rapidly as, the wideand narrow hems can be stitched by a plurality, preferably two wide hemoperators and. a plurality, preferably two simultaneously working narrowhem operators, and the loading, dofiing, and stitching stations are soarranged that each reel may be presented to one wide hemming operator,to hem one-half of the sheet upon a reel, and thereupon to another widehem operator to hem the other half of the sheet upon said reel, andthereafter similarly presented successively to two operators to producethe narrow hem upon the sheets of the reel, and finally the hemmedsheets thereafter carried to a single operator for closing the ends ofall the sheets, and

thence successively to the doffing and loading stations upon each tworevolutions of the turntable.

Desirable positions of the wide hem operators, the narrow hem operators,the hem-closing operator, the doffing and loading stations, areillustrated in Fig. l of the drawings, the station of the wide hemoperator being designated by the letters WH, the narrow hem operators bythe letters NH, the doffing station by the letter D, and the loadingstation by the letter L.

Inasmuch as piles of folded unhemmed sheets are brought to the loadingstations by the conveyer I, and the hemmed sheets removed at the dofiingstation are inspected and folded, and piles of the folded sheets placedupon the conveyer I for delivery to the pressing and packaging station2, suitable tables are provided to receive the piles of sheets removedfrom the conveyer I, and suitable tables are provided at the loadingstation upon which the sheets may be placed and from which the sheetsmay be successively removed by the loader and draped upon thesheet-supporting arms of the reels. These loading tables are identifiedin Fig. l by the letters LT.

In order to avoid pressing and packaging of improperly hemmed sheets ordefective sheets, inspection is made of each sheet after it is doffedfrom the reel. For this purpose comparatively large tables are providedat the dofling static-n upon which the finished sheets may be spread,

inspected, and then folded. These inspection tables are identified inFig. 1 by the letter I and preferably smaller tables T are providedadjacent the inspection tables upon which the folded sheets may be piledbefore they are placed upon the conveyer for transportation to thepressing and packaging station 2.

In order that the reels may be presented simu taneously to two operatorsfor wide hemming the sheets, then to two operators for narrow hemmingthe sheets, then to a single operator for closing the ends of the hems,and a single operator for loading the sheets, and a single operator fordofling the sheets, spacing of the operators around the circular path ofthe reels is such that each reel will he presented to the same operatorupon two complete revolutions of the turntable.

In the operation of the system each reel is presented successively toalternating stations in an order which may be described as follows:

A reel a is first presented to the loading station and a sheet drapedupon each of the sheet-carrying arms. The turntable is then rotatedsufficiently to carry the loaded reel to the station a at which widehems are stitched upon onehalf of the sheets. The turntable is thenrotated to present the reel to another Wide-hemming station a upon whichwide hems are stitched upon the remainder of the sheets. The turntableis then rotated to move the sheets thus wide hemmed to the station a ofa narrow hem operator and one-half of the narrow hem stitched. Theturntable is then rotated to carry the reel (1 to another narrow hemmingstation a at which the remainder of the narrow hems are stitched. Theturntable is then rotated to carry the reel having the fully hemmedsheets to the hemclosing station a where all of the hems are closed bythis operator. The turntable is again rotated to carry the reel havingthe finished sheets to a cloning station a where the sheets aresuccessively removed from the reels, spread upon the inspection table I,inspected, and folded and piled upon the table T and the piles offinished sheets thereafter placed upon the conveyer I which transfersthe finished and inspected sheets to the pressing and packaging station2.

The turntable is then rotated to carry the reel to the loading stationwhere all the arms of the reel are loaded with sheets as before and thereel again thereafter intermittently rotated through the same cycle oftwo revolutions.

In usual practice the loader takes a sheet from the pile, partiallyunfolds it except for the median longitudinal fold, then drapes thesheet over av carrier on the reel with the portions having the unhemmededges hanging downwardly in parallelism. When the sheet reaches thestitching station the rotatable sleeve 26 on the carrier arms permitsthe sheet to be drown downwardly to the stitching machine in such amanner that a complete wide hem, or a complete narrow hem, may bestitched without removing the sheet from the carrier. As a consequenceno substantial wrinkling of the sheet occurs during the stitchingoperations, so that when the sheet is removed from the carrier by thedofier, it can be easily thrown over the inspection table, one side ofthe sheet inspected, the sheet then reversed, and the other sideinspected, and again folded without wrinkling or rumpling the sheet, sothat when the sheet finally reaches the pressing and packaging stationit is merely necessary to place the sheet, or a pile of sheets,successively in folded form in a pressing machine to press the foldstightly together in proper condition to be placed in cartons forshipment or storage.

Inasmuch as the turntable is supported upon antifriction bearings, itcan be easily rotated by an operator and arrested in such manner thatthe several reels will be positioned at the operating andsheet-manipulating stations. In order properly to arrest the reelsaccurately at the respective stations, manually or automaticallyoperable locking means may be provided for arresting and retaining thecarriers in proper relation to the operating stations while the sheetsare being hemmed by the several operators. Any suitable means may beprovided for accomplishing this purpose, such, for example, as a lockinglatch or bolt suitably supported upon the column adapted to engage acomplementary socket in the hub plate H of the reel. An illustrativelocking device, which is shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, comprises abracket 36 which is secured to the column 3 upon which is mounted avertical solenoid 31 having a core 38 adapted detachably to engage asocket or stop 39 on the hub plate I I of the reel. Desirably a spring40 normally supports the core in looking position relatively to a holeor stop 39 on the plate H so that the reel will be locked when the boltand stop are engaged. An electric circuit. extends from the solenoid toa suitable source of electric power (not shown) and to a switch 42 whichis mounted upon the table of one of the operators in convenient reach ofthe hand of the operator so that when the operator closes the switch thesolenoid will be energized to withdraw the core from engagement with thesocket or stop upon the hub plate.

Desirably two series of turntables and their reels are arrangedsymmetrically upon opposite sides of the conveyer, as illustrated inFig. 1. By such an arrangement the doffer at the station D of one seriesof turntables, and the doifer at the station DI at the same station ofthe other series, will be able to cooperate in inspecting and foldingthe sheets. Similarly two doffers at each of the stations DD and DIDI,between two adjacent turntables of each series, may cooperate to inspectthe sheets removed from the reels of both adjacent turntables, inspectand fold them and pile them upon the table T from which the piles can betransferred to the conveyer I.

By reason of the present system the time required for completely hemmingand finishing the sheets for packaging may be completed in a minimumtime with a minimum number of operators.

The system has a still further advantage that if one of the widehemmers, or one of the narrow hemmers, is a more rapid operator than thecompanion hemmer doing the same work, such operator will be able to hemmore than one-half of the sheets while a reel is located at her stand,and the remaining sheets will be hemmed by the slower operator when thereel reaches her station, so that the time required for completelyhemming the sheets of any reel will be the average time required by thetwo operators.

It will be understood that while the invention has been described withreference to the hemming of sheets, such as bed sheets, it may also beemployed for stitching or hemming other articles which require a seriesof operations in which one operator can perform her duty in a fractionof the time required by each of two or more other operators, or wherethe operators may be required to remove the articles temporarily fromthe carriers, and when the operation is completed to restore them to thecarriers.

It will also be understood that where the turntables of the presentinvention are described as carrying seven reels, the same system may beemployed with a greater or lesser number of reels and operators, forexample, if the turntable is provided with five reels two wide hemstitchers and two narrow hem stitchers may be employed with a singleend-hem closing stitcher in which case dofling and loading will both beaccomplished at a single station, in which case two revolutions of thecarrier will present the reels at the respective stations in the samesequence. Furthermore, if the turntable be provided with nine reels,each reel may be presented to three wide hemming stations, to threenarrow hemming stations, to a single hem-closing station, a singleloading station, and a single dofling station upon each two revolutionsof the turntable.

It will be understood that the particular apparatusabove described foruse in a system of hemming sheets is illustrative and not restrictiveand that any type of apparatus may be employed which comprises aplurality of series of travel? ing carriers for supporting the sheetcentrally with the portions thereof having unhemmed edges hangingdownwardly in parallelism, and with means for so mounting the travelingcarriers that all may be moved to a single loading station, a part ofthe carriers when loaded then moved to a plurality of stations havingmeans for form ing the wide hem upon the sheet, then moving therespective carriers bearing the wide hemmed sheets to a similar numberof stations for forming the narrow hems, then moving all of the carriersto a single station for closing the ends of the hem, and then moving thecarriers to a single dofiing station, and finally returning the carriersto the loading station.

It will also be understood that While the invention is described hereinfor hemming sheets of fibrous material, such as bed sheets, it may alsobe employed in flexible sheets of non-fibrous material, such as sheetsformed of plastic material, or of threads of plastic material, such asnylon, Cellophane, etc., within the meaning and scope of the followingclaims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent, is:

1. Apparatus for hemming sheets of fibrous material comprising a seriesof narrowly associated rotatable turntables each having means forsupporting in circular series and in substantially equally spacedrelation an uneven number of reels, reels mounted on said carrier eachhaving a series of radial sheet-supporting arms over each of which thesheet may be draped with the unhemmed edges hanging downwardly inparallelism, sheet-manipulating stations located around said turntablein circumferential spacing corresponding to the spacing of said reelsincluding a single loading station for the reels of adjacent turntables,a plurality of stations associated with each turntable having means forstitching a wide hem, a like plurality of stations associated with eachturntable having means for stitching a narrow hem, a single stationassociated with each turntable having means for closing the ends of thehems of all of the sheets, and a single dofiing station for the reels ofeach successive pair of adjacent turntables, the respectivesheet-manipulating stations being so positioned relatively to itsturntable that a reel will be positioned once at each station during twosuccessive revolutions of the turntable and means for arresting rotationof the respective turntables with the respective reels positioned atevery alternate station in succession.

2. Apparatus for hemming sheets of fibrous material comprising a seriesof narrowly associated rotatable turntables each having means forsupporting in circular series and in substantially equally spacedrelation seven reels mounted on said carrier each having a series ofradial sheet-supporting arms over each of which the sheet may be drapedwith the unhemmed edges hanging downwardly in parallelism, sevensheetmanipulating stations located around said turntable incircumferential spacing corresponding to the spacing of said reelsincluding a single loading station for the reels of adjacent turntables,two stations associated with each turntable having meansfor stitching awide hem, two stations associated with each turntable having means forstitching a narrow hem, -,a single st-ation associated'witheachturntable having means for closing the :ends :of the hems of .all ofthe sheets, a single :dofilng station for each pair of turntables, meansfor arresting the rotation of said turntable at alternate stations,whereby each reel will be arrested once at each station during twosuccessive revolutions of the turntable, the loading and dofiingstations respectively being so positioned that a single operator canload all of the reels carried by adjacent turntables and a singleoperator can doil all of the finished sheets from the reels of adjacentturntables.

3. Apparatus for hemming sheets of fibrous material comprising a seriesof narrowly associated rotatable turntables each having means forsupporting in circular series and in substantially equally spacedrelation an uneven number of reels, reels mounted on said carrier eachhaving a series of radial sheet-supporting arms over each of which thesheet may be draped with the unhemmed edges hanging downwardly inparallelism, a series of sheet-manipulating stations located around saidturntable in circumferential spacing corresponding to the spacing ofsaid reels including a single loading station for the reels of adjacentturntables, a plurality of stations associated with each turntablehaving means for stitching a wide hem, a like plurality of stationsassociated with each turntable having means for stitching a narrow hem,a single station associated with each turntable having means for closingthe ends of the hems of all of the sheets, and a single dofiing stationfor each pair of turntables, the respective sheet-manipulating stationsbeing so positioned relatively to its turntable that a reel will bepositioned once at each station during two successive revolutions of theturntable, and a traveling conveyer for transporting unhemmed sheets tothe respective loading stations and for delivering the finished sheetsfrom the doifing station.

4. Apparatus for hemming sheets of fibrous material comprising twoparallel series of associated turntables each having means forsupporting in circular series and in substantially equally spacedrelation an uneven number of reels, reels mounted on said carrier eachhaving a series of radial sheet-supporting arms over each of which thesheet may be draped with the unhemmed edges hanging downwardly inparallelism, a series of sheet-manipulating stations located around saidturntable in circumferential spacing corresponding to the spacing ofsaid reels including a single loading station for the reels of adjacentturntables of each series, a plurality of stations associated with eachturntable having means for stitching a wide hem, a like plurality ofstations associated with each turntable having means for stitching anarrow hem, a single station associated with each turntable having meansfor closing the ends of the hems of all of the sheets, and a singledoffing station for each pair of turntables of each series, therespective sheet-manipulating stations being so positioned relatively toits turntable that a reel will be positioned once at each station duringtwo successive revolutions of the turntable, and an endless conveyerlocated between the series of turntables for conveying the sheets to theloading stations and for delivering the finished sheets from the dofiingstation.

5. In an apparatus for hemming sheets of fibrous material, rotatablesheet-supporting means comprisinga vertical column, a turntablerotatably mounted on said column, a series of reelstrotatably suspendedfrom said turntable at equal distancesfrom the axis of said column, eachof said reels havingv cylindrical radially extending arms and sleevesrotatably mounted on each of said arms over which the sheet may bedraped and shoulder members at each end of said sleeve presentingnon-corrosive surfaces adapted. to beengaged by'the edges'of said sheet.

6. An apparatus for hemming sheets of fibrous material comprising avertical column, a turntable rotatably mounted on said column, a seriesof reels uneven in number rotatably suspended from said turntable atequal distances from the axis of said column and equal distances fromeach other, each of said reels having a series of radial arms over whichthe central portion of a sheet may be draped, and manually controlledmeans for arresting rotation of said turntable to present the respectivesheet-supporting reels at a like number of sheet-manipulating stationsin such manner that each reel will be arrested at each station onceduring two successive revolutions of said turntable.

7. Apparatus for hemming sheets of flexible material comprising a reel,adapted to be positioned in proximity to a hemming machine, comprising arotatable circular arm-supporting member having an annular peripheralboss provided with a series of inwardly extending recesses each having avertical radial wall and a wall diverging from said radial wall,sheet-supporting arms pivotally mounted in said circular member withinthe apex of the respective recesses and extending beyond the peripheryof said circular member a sufiicient distance from the periphery thereofto support a sheet draped over the arm with the portions of the sheethaving the unhemmed edges hanging downwardly.

8. Apparatus for concurrently hemming sheets of fibrous materialcomprising a turntable having a peripheral annular real support, aseries of reels uneven in number mounted on said annular support insubstantially equally spaced relation, each reel having a series ofsheet supporting arms over each of which a central portion of a sheet isdraped with the unhemmed edges hanging downwardly, an equal number ofsimilarly spaced operating stations adjacent to the path of the reelscomprising a plurality of wide hemming stations, a plurality of narrowhemming stations, and alternating with said wide and narrow hemmingstations respectively a single loading station, a single hem-closingstation, and a single dofling station, means for arresting saidturntable successively at every other station, whereby the same reelwill be positioned once at each station during two successiverevolutions of said turntable, thereby enabling simultaneous wide andnarrow hemming respectively of a part of the sheets of each of aplurality of carriers at different stations and closing of the ends ofthe hems at a single station, doffing the sheets at a single station,and reloading of the carriers at another single station.

9. Apparatus for concurrently hemming sheets of fibrous materialcomprising a rotatable circular turntable having a peripheral annularreel support, a series of seven reels mounted on said annular support insubstantially equally spaced relation, each reel having a series ofsheet supporting arms over each of which a central portion of a sheet isdraped with the unliemmed edges hanging downwardly, seven similarlyspaced operating stations adjacent to the path of the reels comprisingtwo wide hemming stations and two narrow hemming stations andalternating with said wide and narrow hemming stations respectively asingle loading station, a single hemclosing station, and a singledofiing station, means for arresting said turntable successively atevery other station, whereby the same reel will be positioned once ateach station during two successive revolutions of said turntable therebyenabling simultaneous wide and narrow hemming respectively of a part ofthe sheets of each of two carriers at different stations and closing ofthe ends of the hems at a single station, doifing the sheets at a singlestation and reloading of the carriers at another single station.

RUSS E. ANNIS.

